A small village will be unable to cope with a new 52-home development, it has been warned – with flooding concerns top of people’s concerns.

One couple living close to the planned development in Flordon Road, Creeting St Mary said there had been "repeated occasions, after heavy rain, when the manhole covers have been forced up and raw sewage has been spread over our garden".

They went on to say: "The addition of 52 homes onto this system, and three on the site opposite, threatens far greater problems in the future.

"Unless something can be done to remedy the situation, we feel this development should not be allowed to go ahead."

Their concerns have been echoed by Creeting St Mary Parish Council, with clerk Jennie Blackburn saying in response to a planning application being considered by Mid Suffolk District Council this week: "The current sewage system can not cope with the houses in the area at the moment, let alone with 52 more houses being fed into it."

The council is also concerned about "the lack of a footpath for pedestrian access into the site", it says is "currently very unsafe due to the narrowness of the road, the amount of traffic and large lorries that pass through the village"

Ms Blackburn added: "The current infrastructure could not cope with an additional 52 houses."

However council officers have recommended full planning permission be given of the J Breheny Contractors Ltd site, saying that conditions imposed at outline planning permission stage deal with the flooding concerns.